Upper buffing device for vestibule face-plates.



L. C. SPARKS.

UPPER BUFFING DEVICE FOR VESTIBULE FACE PLATES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16,19I5.

Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

M27166 sea W}:

THE coLuMmA PLANOGRAPH 110., WASHINGTON, D. c.

ill lilTATFfi FATENT LEVI Cl. SPARKS, MAPLEWC'OD, MISSOURI, ASfiIGNOP.

TO AMERICAN CAR, AND

FOUNDRY CQMPANY, OF ST. LQUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

UPPER BUFFING DEVICE FOR VESTIBULE FACE-PLATES.

Application filed March 16, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Levi G. SPARKS, a citizen of the United States, residing at l s laplewood, St. Louis county, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Upper Bufling Devices for Vestibule Face-Plates, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates generally to railway car vestibules, and more particularly to the means employed for maintaining the upper portions of the diaphragm face plates of vestibules in proper position or in restoring them to such position when they have been displaced or shifted as a result of relative movement between the cars to which the diaphragms are applied as said cars pass over curves, crossings and irregularities in the track.

Devices of the character to which my invention relates are usually known as upper buffing devices for vestibule face plates, and generally include a spring, preferably of the semi-elliptic type, and composed of one or more leaves, which spring is interposed between the face plate of the diaphragm and the end of the car, and which, in service, is compressed and expands with the corresponding movements of the diaphragm, thus at all times, maintaining the face plates of an adjacent pair of diaphragms in close yielding contact with each other.

The principal object of my invention is to provide comparatively simple and inexpensive connecting means between the semi-elliptic spring which carried by the diaphragm face plate and the vestibule structure, which means is particularly effective in resisting the outward swinging movement of the upper portion of said diaphragm face plate. The connecting means contemplated by my invention is preferably in the form of bracl-zets or bearings which are applied to the end portion of the car body or vestibule and receive the end portions of the semielliptic'spring and which brackets or bearings, in addition to holding the spring securely and. positively in proper position during service, permit the ready removal or in- Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 14,8 13.

sertion of said spring in the event of repairs or renewal of parts. i

The brackets or bearings of my improved construction are adapted to be rigidly fixed to the car body while the same is under con struction, and said hearings or brackets are designed to retain the springs without the use of bolts, rivets or like fastening device.

dVith the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a railway car diaphragm and showing a bracket or hearing of my improved construction associated with the face plate butling spring. Fig. 2 is a front elevational View of the parts seen in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlar ed cross sectional view taken ap proximately on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlar ed plan view of one of the sprin receiving brackets or bearings as contemplated by my invention. Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a modified form of the spring receiving bracket or hearing. Fig. 6 is a plan View of a further modified form of the spring receiving bracket or hearing. Fig. 7 is a plan view of a modified form of the means utilized for att ching the spring to the diaphragm face plate. Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken on line 88 of Fig. 7.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings, 10 designates the end portion of the car vestibule, 11 the usual bellows diaphragm, and 12 the usual face plate of said diaphragm.

An ordinary semi-elliptic spring 13 having one or more leaves is fixed in any suitable manner at its center to the upper central portion of the face plate 12. The preferred form of bracket or bearing which receives the end of the spring comprises a substantially U-shaped member 14, the same being preferably cast and provided at its sides with ears 15 which receive rivets or like devices which serve to rigidly fix the bracket to the vestibule structure 10.

Formed integral with the upper portion of the rear wall of the body of the bracket and adjacent toone side thereof is a forwardly projecting lug 16 and formed integral with the upper portion of the front wall of said bracket and at the opposite side thereof is a rearwardly projecting lug 17. Such construction forms an irregular or tortuous opening into the upper end of the space or chamber between the front and rear walls of the bearing or bracket, and which space or chamber receives the end portion of the elliptic spring 13.

It will be understood that a pair of the brackets are rigidly fixed to the end structure of the vestibule of the car at the time the same is built, and when the diaphragm is applied to the vestibule, the end portions of the elliptic spring are raised above the brackets 14 and then manipulated so that they will drop through the irregular or tortuous openings between the pairs of lugs 16 and 17. This can be readily accomplished with the use of a suitable tool. After the end portions of the spring have been properly positioned in the brackets, they will be maintained in proper operative position therein, and theoifset lugs will act as stops to prevent the ends of the spring from becoming accidentally displaced from said brackets or bearings. It will be understood that the lower buffer stems which are connected to the diaphragm face plate hold the same against upward movement, but under certain conditions there is a tendency of the upper buffing spring to jump upward and become displaced, but such tendency is entirely overcome where the ends of the spring are confined in brackets of my improved construction.

It will be understood that the outer end portions of the spring are bent forwardly outside the brackets, thus providing stops to limit the inward movement of the end portions of the springs with respect to said brackets.

In service, the spring 13 yieldingly resists the inward movement of the face plate 12 and during such action, the ends of the spring move freely through the brackets or bearings 14:.

In the modified form of the bracket or bearing illustrated in Fig. 5, a plate 18 is rigidly fixed to the end of the vestibule structure, said plate being provided at its top with a forwardly projecting portion 19 from the forward end of which depends a lug or lip 20.

Formed integral with and projecting forwardly from the lower portion of the plate 18 is a flange or plate 21 and projecting upwardly from the forward edge thereof is a vertically disposed plate 22, the same occupying a position parallel with the plate 18. Such construction provides an open loop or bracket which receives the end portion of the spring 13 and the opening 23 into said loop or bracket is approximately the same or slightly greater than the width of the spring, thus permitting the ready insertion or removal of said spring. When the end of the spring is positioned in this form of the bracket, said spring is lifted until it is directly in front of the opening 23 and it is then moved rcarwardly and dropped into position behind the plate In the modified form of bearing or bracket illustrated in Fig. 6, a substantially U- shaped member, 2% receives the end of the spring and projecting reaiwvardly from the upper portion of the front wall or plate of said bracket is a single lug r projecting lip 25 which prevents the accidental displace ment of the spring in case the same tends to spring upwardly out of its hearing.

In Figs. 7 and 8 I have shown a modified form of device for securing the central portion of the elliptic spring to the face plate. said device comprising a substantially U- shaped bracket 26 which is attached preferably by means of rivets to the inner face of the upper central portion of the face plate. When this form of device is used, the central portion of the semi-elliptic spring is provided with an encircling band 27, the same being rigidly fixed to the spring in any suitable manner, and when the spring is applied to the face plate, this band is slipped downward into the bracket 26, and said band and the springs are prevented from moving lengthwise through said brackets by means of vertically disposed ribs or ears 28 which are formed on the side edges of the legs of said bracket and engage the ends of the band 27. The spring is slipped into the bracket 26 at the same time that the ends of said spring are sprung into position in the bearing brackets l t and when said spring is properly positioned for use, the lugs 16 and 17 on the upper ends of the bearing brackets retain said spring against upward movement until sufficient force is applied at the end portions of said springs to force the same through the openings at the upper ends of the bearing brackets. Inasmuch as the end portions of the springs are held against vertical movement the central portion of said spring will maintain its position in the b 'acket 26. This modifiedconstruction provides means whereby the spring can be at tached to the face plate without necessitating the setting of rivets, bolts or the like in the spring.

lVhile I have shown and described the upper bufling spring as being connected to the diaphragm face plate and the spring retaining brackets or keepers on the vestibule structure, it will be unde "stood that the positions of these parts may be reversed, that is, with the spring secured to the vestibule structure and the brackets or keepers secured to the diaphragm face plate.

A device of my improved construction is comparatively simple, can be cheaply manufactured and installed, retains the ends of the face plate spring in proper operative po sition and permits the ready removal and insertion of the spring in the event that the diaphragm is renewed or repaired.

It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved device can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a railway car vestibule and vestibule diaphragm face plate, of a horizontally disposed semi-elliptic spring secured to the upper portion of one of said elements, and brackets fixed to the other element and serving as bearings for the ends of the spring, said brackets being provided at their upper ends with openings whereby the ends of the spring are applied to or removed from said brackets by a vertical movement of said spring relative to said brackets.

2. The combination with a railway car vestibule and vestibule diaphragm face plate, of a semi-elliptic spring secured to one of said elements, and spring bearings fixed to the other element, each of which bearings comprises a substantially U-shaped bracket having an opening at its upper end, portions of which opening are offset with respect to each other.

3. The combination with a railway car vestibule and vestibule diaphragm face plate, of a horizontally disposed semi-elliptic spring secured to one of said elements, and spring bearings fixed to the other element, each of which bearings comprises a substantially U-shaped bracket arranged with its opening at the top to permit the spring to be positioned in or removed from said bracket by a relative verticalmovement and a lug projecting from the upper portion of one of the legs of said brackets toward the other leg.

4. The combination with a railway car vestibuleand vestibule diaphragm face plate, of a horizontally disposed semi-elliptic spring secured to one of said elements, and spring bearings fixed to the other element, each of which bearings comprises a substantially U-shaped bracket arranged with the opening at the top to permit the spring to be positioned in or removed from said bracket by a relative vertical movement, the upper portions of the legs of which are provided with lugs which project into the opening between said legs.

5. The combination with a railway car vestibule and vestibule diaphragm face plate, of a horizontally disposed semi-elliptic spring secured to one of said elements, spring bearings fixed to the other element,

each of which bearings comprises a substan tially U-shaped bracket arranged with its openings at the top whereby the end of the spring is positioned in or removed from said bracket by a relative vertical movement, and means on the upper portion of one of the legs of the bracket for preventing the accidental withdrawal of the spring from the bracket in an upward direction.

6. A diaphragm face plate spring retaining device comprising a substantially U-shaped bracket, having an opening at its upper ends, portions of which openings are offset relative to each other.

7. A diaphragm face plate spring retaining device comprising a bearing loop provided near its upper end with an opening, portions of which are oflset relative to each other.

8. A diaphragm face plate spring retaining device comprising a bracket in which is formed a spring bearing, there being an opening into said spring bearing which opening is of such size and shape as to permit the insertion or removal of the end portion of the spring, only when said spring is twisted or distorted from normal position, and a portion of which bracket overhangs the spring bearing to prevent the direct vertical withdrawal of the spring from the device.

9. A diaphragm face plate spring retaining device comprising a loop having an opening at its upper end through which the spring may be inserted or removed by a relative vertical movement, and means on said loo-p for preventing the accidental with draw-a1 of the spring by an upward movement through said opening.

10. A retaining device for the horizontally disposed spring of a diaphragm face plate comprising a loop having an opening at its upper end through which the spring may be inserted or removed by a vertical movement of the spring with respect to said retaining device, and spring stop lugs on said loop adjacent to the opening therein.

11. A retaining device for the horizontally disposed spring of a diaphragm face plate comprising a loop having an opening through which the spring may be inserted by a vertical movement of the spring with respect to said retaining device, and oifset spring stop lugs on said loop adjacent to the mouth of the opening therein.

12. A diaphragm face plate spring retain ing device comprising a loop having an opening at its top through which the spring may be inserted or removed by a relative vertical movement, and a spring stop lug on said loop, which lug projects partially across the mouth of the opening therein.

18. The combination with a railway car vestibule and vestibule diaphragm face plate, of a horizontally disposed semi-elliptie spring interposed between said elements, and brackets attached to said elements and forming bearings for the ends and central portion of said spring, said brackets being provided with openings at their upper ends whereby the spring is positioned in or removed from said brackets by a vertical movement of the spring relative to said brackets.

14. The combination with a railway car vestibule and vestibule diaphragm face plate, of a semi-elliptic spring interposed between said elements, and substantially U-shaped brackets attached to said elements and forming bearings for the ends and central portion of said spring, certain of which brackets are provided with irregular openings at their upper ends.

Copies of this patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

signature in the presence of two witnesses, f

this eleventh day of March, 1915.

LEVI G. SPARKS.

WVitnesses:

OSCAR HocHBERe, FRED G. WOLFF.

Washington, D. G. 

